Conductor Christian Badea has received exceptional acclaim throughout his career, which encompasses prestigious engagements in the foremost concert halls and opera houses of Europe, North America and Asia.

Among the orchestras he has guest conducted in Europe are the ROYAL PHILHARMONIC and the BBC SYMPHONY in London, the GOTHENBURG SYMPHONY, the RESIDENTIE ORCHESTRA, the AMSTERDAM PHILHARMONIC and the RADIO PHILHARMONIC in Holland, the BEETHOVENHALLE ORCHESTRA in Bonn, the ORCHESTRE PHILHARMONIQUE DE LA RADIO FRANCE and the ORCHESTRE DE L’ILE DE FRANCE in Paris, the ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE LYON, the RAI ORCHESTRA in Torino , the SANTA CECILIA ORCHESTRA in Rome and the MAGGIO MUSICALE ORCHESTRA in Florence, the BUDAPEST PHILHARMONIC, the NATIONAL ORCHESTRA of Spain in Madrid as well as the orchestras of Valencia, Seville and Bilbao. In Asia he conducted the HONG KONG PHILHARMONIC and he toured Japan with the TOKYO PHILHARMONIC.

In North America, Christian Badea was a guest of such orchestras as the PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY, the NATIONAL SYMPHONY in Washington, D.C., the MONTREAL SYMPHONY, the ATLANTA SYMPHONY, the DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, the BALTIMORE SYMPHONY, the ROCHESTER PHILHARMONIC and the AMERICAN SYMPHONY at CARNEGIE HALL.
Christian Badea’s extensive repertoire ranges from the works of Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven to the composers of the 21st century. His particular interest in French culture has been present in concert programs and recordings dedicated to French music.

Christian Badea’s strong commitment to contemporary music has brought him in collaboration with many important composers. Among them are Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber, Michael Tippett, George Crumb, Frank Zappa, John Corigliano, Christopher Rouse and John Adams to name just a few. His discography includes the Saint Saens Symphony no.3 with London’s Royal Philharmonic on the Telarc label, award winning recordings of symphonies of American composers Roger Sessions and Peter Mennin, as well as a live recording of Samuel Barber’s opera Antony and Cleopatra, which won a Grammy Award.

Among the major artists with whom Christian Badea has collaborated are Leonard Bernstein, Mstislav Rostropovich, YoYo Ma, Yefim Bronfman, Shlomo Mintz, Midori, Cho Liang Lin, Mitsuko Uchida, Gerhard Oppitz, Lynn Harrell, singers such as Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming, Bryn Terfel, Natalie Dessay, Rolando Vilazon, Simon Keenlyside, Samuel Ramey, Thomas Hampson, Dawn Upshaw, James Morris, Neil Shicoff and stage directors such as Bruce Beresford, David Pountney, Franco Zeffirelli, Andrei Serban and Keith Warner.
Equally dividing his time between symphony and opera conducting, Christian Badea has appeared as a frequent guest in the major opera houses of the world.

At the METROPOLITAN OPERA in New York where he was a regular guest for 10 years, he conducted over 170 performances in a wide variety of repertoire. Among the opera houses where Christian Badea has guest conducted are the VIENNA STATE OPERA, the ROYAL OPERA HOUSE at Covent Garden in London, the BAYERISCHE STAATSOPER in Munich, the STAATSOPER in Hamburg, the GRAND THEATRE DE GENEVE, the THEATRE ROYAL DE LA MONNAIE in Brussels, the NETHERLANDS OPERA in Amsterdam, the COPENHAGEN ROYAL OPERA and the STOCKHOLM ROYAL OPERA, the TEATRO REGIO DI TORINO and the TEATRO COMUNALE DI BOLOGNA, the OPERA NATIONAL DE LYON and in North America, the opera companies of Houston, Dallas, Toronto, Montreal, Baltimore and Detroit.

His operatic repertoire encompasses more than 80 operas with particular emphasis on the works of Mozart, Strauss, Wagner, Verdi, Puccini, Mussorgsky, as well as those of 20th century composers such as Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Berg and Samuel Barber. He has conducted extensively the Italian and French repertoire, collaborating with the most important singers of the last two decades.

Christian Badea received his initial training at the BUCHAREST CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC, where he studied violin. He continued with conducting studies in Brussels, at the MOZARTEUM in Salzburg with Herbert von Karajan and in New York at the JUILLIARD SCHOOL where he received his Postgraduate Diploma in conducting and where one of his most important mentors was Leonard Bernstein.

Recent performances have included Bruckner 6th Symphony, Schoenberg Kammersymphonie op.9b, Shostakovich 1st Symphony and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in Spain, an all Beethoven concert in Stockholm, Mahler 3rd Symphony in Valencia, Salome and Les Contes d’Hoffmann in the United States, Tosca at Covent Garden, Parsifal, Così fan tutte and Macbeth in Copenhagen, as well as Otello, Capriccio and The Rake’s Progress at the Stockholm Opera. Of particular interest was his return to Romania, in October 2006 after many years of absence, where he conducted with great success the inaugural concert of the NATIONAL ROMANIAN RADIO ORCHESTRA season with Mahler’s 9th symphony. In March 2008 Christian Badea received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Music in Bucharest. In addition to a busy schedule of concerts and opera productions , Christian Badea has been very active for many years as a teacher, giving master classes in USA, Montreal, Copenhagen and Stockholm.

Recently, Christian Badea conducted the opening concert of the FIRST INTERNATIONAL ROSTROPOVICH FESTIVAL in Baku, Azerbaijan and was a guest of the MOSCOW STATE ORCHESTRA and the SAINT PETERSBURG PHILHARMONIC in two concerts dedicated to Russian music and to Mstislav Rostropovich in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. He was immediately reinvited by the orchestra to conduct in their subscription series.

He returned to the ROYAL OPERA HOUSE in London in July and in October 2008 and conducted the inaugural concert of the 140 years anniversary season of the BUCHAREST PHILHARMONIC with Mahler Symphony no.3, in addition to concerts in Prague with the same orchestra.

Future engagements include concerts and opera productions in the United States, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Romania.